Seeing how it was most likely he was turned down by Akane, Rugal was busy trying to get the feeling back into his hand, running it under an ice cold tap as well as jabbing it with a toothpick.No More Magic types. Never again... he promised himself as he got a visitor he never could have expected.".. Rugal... this is Annie. We.. should talk since the Rising Dawn trusts me to walk freely."...Hm...Here was me thinking this was going to be a boring night..."...It's open. Come on in." he said as he dried off his hand while Annie entered.The Captain's Quarters were a great deal more "Regal" then others, no doubt he went out of his way to make it that way."...Well...You wanted to talk...Talk..." He coldly said, not really paying any heed to the one who killed S'zami.After all, she was just the excuse he needed to take control.

Rising Dawn: Hallway: Deadshot, Jake, Akane, Devon, Cadolbolg

Deadshot sneered when Akane walked past, glaring at her as he remembered her as the Fox he tried to play Duck Hunt with."I'm betting it's the Face?..." He joked as he showed off his scars, remembering that he was wearing that David West mask when they last met.Still, once the door was open, he left the group to their business as he threw off the top of his burnt Maroon Jumpsuit and laid down in bed, the first comfy bed he had been on in months.ohhhhhhhh yeaahhhhh...Hey, if you do that thing where you kill me, care to do it while I'm sleeping?"Nah, think we both need to be awake for that."...You think or you know?...."Get off my damn case, It's not like there's a handbook for this shit! Just shut up and get some sleep before they drag ya back to your cell."Fine, Jeez!....Think they fixed our escape tunnel? You know? Though the Septic Tank?"Hmmm...Nah..."...Freaking A.

The Assassin then yawned as he pulled up the quilt and got some Zs, hoping that Wanderer had FINALLY stopped harassing him in his sleep.

Rugal merely kept working on his hand while Annie went on about Redemption or something, He wasn't really playing attention."Gah, Blasted Kitsune, should make a coat of those damn Tails of hers...hm?....Oh yeah, Do as you wish...." He said somewhat absently as his priorities were clearly elsewhere."Just know this and this alone: If you ever wrong me again...Well...There are still 999 gallons left on board this ship, Hm?" he taunted, twisting the knife he was seemed to relish in what he did, a coy smile on his face."Now run along, I have other concerns bar entertainment..." he added, knowing just what button's to push to make his point clear.

Oh that's gonna cost her... Rugal thought as Annie grabbed him by the vest after he kicked him in the back, sure, it hurt, but he had worse."A lot of faces linger in my mind...You would have to do a lot better then that to make the leader-board." He explained as he gripped her wrist and slowly pulled it off his vest, overpowering her attempts to fight it in a restrained show of strength.Once he was standing upright, he then added "Now then...The only reason you are still alive is because, as much as I hate to say it, I need these people to pursue my goals. And something about me ripping your tiny head from your puny body seems to upset them. However, Think of your situation, you entered my room under the pretense of offering an olive branch, only to strike me when my back is turned? How will you think they will see that?..."

Annie then realized he was right, if they fought now, Rugal would not only win but get off scot free by claiming she was the aggressor."Now then...I'm going to kindly ask you to leave before I smear you all over this room...And stay close to those..."Friends" of yours...This can be a dangerous city to be alone in, specially for a little girl like you...Good day, Annie Leonharte." He concluded before returning to his attempts to regain feeling in his hand, uncaring if she stuck him again.

Melethia quickly took one of the poffins out of the bag and began eating it. It was a bit sweet for her tastes, but otherwise this had to be the most delicious piece of bread she'd ever eaten! The drink helped balance it out as well, making for a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

"David, Jenny, these are fantastic. Why didn't I hear about them before?" The grin on her face was so genuine, so calm... it was almost as if Melethia was a kid for once.

Rising Dawn Hallway: Akane, Devon, Cadolbolg, Caim, Ton Ton

"I didn't exactly ask for this, Jake... You know, the phrase 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? Not so true any more. Could we just leave it at that?" The author staggered as she shifted around uncomfortably, and Caim knew that the curse still had to be rather sensitive to his student. Or was it younger sibling? It was hard to tell nowadays with her.

Heck, the more they looked at Devon's heavily battered and scorched state, it became more amazing was that she was even awake. Of course, Caim had been through worse himself, but the biggest difference between Caim and Devon was that Pact. Had Devon forgotten this and tried taking the front lines? Caim could certainly ask Cadolbolg in a bit without too much difficulty.

Still, she knelt down to shakily pick up the Tonberry with one of her arms and turned to the others."I can handle rest a bit later... Just gotta tough this out, you know? I can stay up a bit later, although I do appreciate the help." Her eyes went back down to Akane's plush tails, and it seemed like she was entranced? No, comforted was the better word when it it came to how the Bard saw the tails. Nothing like Gabrielle's reactions when it came to the tails, but it was clear that Devon had been under a lot recently.

The oddest thing that Akane could feel around the bard was that she must have been under an extremely powerful curse. If this was from hell, then she must have royally pissed off someone with a massive amount of power down there.

Rising Dawn: Training Room: Slindis, Dimitri

The skipping was certainly an oddity, but it and the other videos weren't the gamechangers needed to blow this case wide open. "It still doesn't explain the sudden mood shift, even if he did go in the fight alone. It is a bit more dramatic than what would be expected, and most certainly more foolish. If I'm going to get down to the core of this, I need cameras watching him at all times. More importantly, I need them kept under wraps.

Dimitri, is it possible to lock access to this surveillance unless a certain word is spoken? If so, I'd like to use the word 'Ferill' for that codeword."

Rising Dawn: Ella's Room: Ella, Garm, Teri

"Okay... Now, how will we pass that on to Slindis? This is kind of important, after all... Tama, you okay? I know you're not in a good mood, but I'm here for you..." Sadei approached the corner of the mind that Tama was hiding in and tried to get close enough to comfort the damaged friend of herself and Teri.

Meanwhile, Ella seemed rather frazzled as she got down to the crux of the issue, "It's basically how Garm's called it out. The worst thing is that if Devon goes, I'm sure my mom will call in the deal and cut her off from heaven and force her to sign the contract. I know it's messed up, but it's how she rolls. Now, I need your help to get Devon out of that mindset of having to lead like she does because it will get her killed.

I mean, she says she won't get killed, but I know her. I know her durability, or lack thereof. ANd honestly? I can't really trust Caim or Angelus to help in the way that I need it. No, I need you. If you and your Shadow can listen, here's the plan to fix this in one fell swoop..."

After a good bit of expositing how she was planning on executing this plan, she turned back to the pair.

"...now the rubber duck is optional, although it would prove to make this a lot easier. Not as easily as the box of puppies, though, but we don't have the resources for either. It helps us that Ton-Ton's already taking that place. Do the stores sound right?" Ella's distress was genuine, and it said a lot that Ella went to the person that Caim claimed caused the whole mess to help her out.

Dimitri gave another nod, and his eyes seemed to zone out for a moment as the AI processed the passcode and the new orders added to his programming, ".......Complete. Gambit imputed, and voice activated passcode in place. The video recordings will not be avaliable unless you speak the passcode, or further clearance is granted on your part. Surveillance of User: Mr. Bernstein is commencing now."

Rising Dawn: Ella's Room: Ella, Garm, Teri

Toyotama shifted lightly in the dark corner of Teri's mind, and turned to face Sadei. She was clad in the form that appeared when Teri called upon her, and she was working to fix the wounded trident from earlier. Giving a good glare with the helmet, Toyotama kept quiet for a moment before sighing, "Munchkin... I might have known... Look, I'm not feeling too good after I found out what sort of shit just went down.... You saw what happened, right? Dad feeling up on the foxy chick and We got mad. So, Kiddo gave me access to the rings, and I surfed my way to Dad's and-"

The Shadow paused, it's shoulders shaking, hair wild as it angrily cried out, "That rat bastard, Herucles; you know, Dad's Persona; He jacked Dad's body! Dad's stuck in there! And he sounded so- so confused! Like, he hadn't heard Our voice in years or some shit. I could tell it was the real thing too, by the way he addressed me! He couldn't tell me and Kiddo apart! And I just sat there like a slack jawed yokel while that bastard yanked the ring off. I tried talking to him a couple of times, but it won't go through!"

She punched the wall in the mind, causing a minor wince on Teri's part, and then slumped, her long ponytail trailing behind, when she finished with, "I might have lost Dad forever to that monster. There's no way in hell That Guy's gonna let Dad talk to Us again."

Meanwhile, back in the Material Plane, Teri listened intently to Ella's plans, asking a few choice questions where they were needed, and added herself, "I think I got the gist of it. Now, care to tell me why the sudden rush to do all this so fast? No offense Ella, but you seem kinda....Desperate? Like you're racing against a clock or something."

Garm chuckled faintly, and looked to Ella, "And you were worried that she wouldn't go along with the plan at all."

As they discussed some more, Teri made a motion to Sadei, "We could either talk to Mum face to face, or send her stuff over the rings. We got Dimitri on our side, so we can eliminate camera footage if necessary..."

Jenny couldn't help but crack a smile at Melethia's reaction, recalling a time when she recommended this exact Poffin to her."You did, just...I don't know how to say it but there is a poffin for everyone, you just need to try them until you find it. But I think you've found yours." She explained as she ran a hand though the Elf's green hair."Like finding a decent pint!" David half joked, though his delivery seemed halfheartedly as he took a swig of his soda."...errr...something like that..." Jenny murmured as her metaphor seemed broken now."...Right, I'll be in the range. Need to clear my head a little. Talk to ya." He said before making his way out of the Med Bay.

Rising Dawn Hallway: Akane, Devon, Cadolbolg, Caim, Ton TonAkane returned Cadolbolg's wave and began to smile. Her friends of the crew were still here. Jake couldn't help but smile as well. "It's nice to be back Caim, Authors and Gods are still at it if my watch tells me... You just kinda disappear into nothing, I can tell you it sucks just waking up as if nothing happened but so much time has passed. Oh hey Ton Ton!"

At Jake's request, however, Vermilion was the one to speak over the intercom: "Access granted. As for your request for another room, there should be adequate furnishings for yourself and Akane further down the hall. Or, if you so desire to have separate rooms? Both can easily be taken care of...""Cheers Miss Vermillion, I'll come say G'day to ya up on the bridge later, we'll manage with our current room then thanks!" Jake replied, happy to have the powerful AI still around. As the little group passed on from Deadshot's new room, Akane met Deadshot's sneer with a huff and continued on. There would be time for retribution later, after she figured out why he was on the ship as a seeming ally.

"I didn't exactly ask for this, Jake... You know, the phrase 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? Not so true any more. Could we just leave it at that?" The author staggered as she shifted around uncomfortably, and Caim knew that the curse still had to be rather sensitive to his student. Or was it younger sibling? It was hard to tell nowadays with her. Still, Devon knelt down to shakily pick up the Tonberry with one of her arms and turned to the others."I can handle rest a bit later... Just gotta tough this out, you know? I can stay up a bit later, although I do appreciate the help." Her eyes went back down to Akane's plush tails, and it seemed like she was entranced? No, comforted was the better word when it it came to how the Bard saw the tails. Nothing like Gabrielle's reactions when it came to the tails, but it was clear that Devon had been under a lot recently.

The oddest thing that Akane could feel around the bard was that she must have been under an extremely powerful curse. If this was from hell, then she must have royally pissed off someone with a massive amount of power down there. "I'm sorry Devon, I should have asked Jack to look out for you down in Hell as soon as you returned the first time. But it seems what is done is done..." She said trailing off.

"Y'know what, I'm glad I'm back. I missed you lot. Except Rugal, he seems a little off recently. Someone needs to give us the notes on what the fuck we missed out on and who the crew currently are. I'm still on edge about fighting shadows again though..." Jake questioned Caim.

The greatest of evils is the most moderate of souls. Whose will, and power, could haphazardly sway between two ideologies, but never commit to either. The very nature of darkness is obfuscation. The Heart of Darkness was a simple thing, a fragment of a creature so great that his existence could not be represented in such a simple reality. He transcended good and evil, and was disinterested in the petty squabbles of humans. But the emissary of that great unspeakable beast was much less inactive. The holder of the Black Heart moved every which and way, and at most times, all at once. A shadow. He turned his "head" and looked moodily into the he center of himself, for he was everywhere in the ship at once. Within the walls, the floors. Listening, watching. Always monitoring the living creatures under his jurisdiction. They were insignificant things compared to him, BlackHarte had decided. Even that proxy body he made, Sir Edward, seemed weaker than his true form. His body was now beyond county, innumerable individual units, each capable of sentient cognition, formed his deranged psyche. Always knowing, always thinking, always yearning, and most importantly, always being. A new familiar presence tickled him, a sad love story he remembered, of a fox girl and her knight in shining armor... torn apart by flagrant Gods. Of which one more now resided inside the ship spontaneously. Yes. He remembered. BlackHarte remembered. Even those units that had not been born then remembered.

BlackHarte laughed. He laughed genuinely, and every single particle in his immense form shook with genuine amusement. "They've returned," he said to himself. Watching their every possibility of existence. From video feeds provided by floating individual units in the air, to those units within them from inhalation, or drinking water and wine. He watched, he recorded, he processed. There was no privacy, he knew everything. How everyone looked, how everyone felt. What the contents in their stomach was, and how high their blood sugar was. He knew their body fat, their muscle mass, he knew how much breath they took and the allergens they reacted to. There was no privacy. He was always watching.

The little one however, the small creature that the crew knew as "BlackHarte" was still fast asleep in his terminal. His green eye closed and his small black body rippling with undulatory tumults. You could cal him cute if you really tried. And even he, this small part of the whole, had no idea the extend of BlackHarte's influence and power.

This creature of darkness had wrought even a Fundamental, Chaos Knight, and brought the proud warrior to his knees. This primordial evil had torn asunder countless 'masters' and assimilated their thoughts and knowledge. Carefully predicted and controlled their reactions, their movements, so that he could bridge the gap between worlds or create demented and broken humans. For what though? For fun. BlackHarte wanted to be amused more than anything, and playing with lesser creatures was his favorite past time.

"Jake, Akane... It's been a long time."

BlackHarte stirred his little body awake from its nap and sent him scooting along on the floor, confused and confuddled, looking for two vague memories in his head.

David | Melethia | Jenny | Constance | Siz

Cz stirred in her sleep. There was his face again. His indescribable face. A blackness within darkness, a void within void. The absolute absence of emotion, want, desire, coalesced into a paradoxical star of evil. It didn't want to be understood by human minds, so it wasn't, and its will was undefiable. Cz was crying uncontrollably inhin her dream as the foul creature laughed. At least it seemed to laugh. The noise it made was reminiscent of laughter, but perverted and distorted. Cacophony to human ears, occupying that small range between audible and inaudible. Like two mouths speaking at once, backwards and forwards at the same time. Like to tongues clicking against each other wetly and sloppily and cracking bones and screeching metal. It laughed and quivered in no way a reasonable creature should. It wrapped its body, cold hard soft and wet, onto Cz's skin and brushed past into her innards. Piercing her skin without so much as cutting it. It was inside her, churning her, hurting her, and it didn't do anything at all. It's mere existence hurt Cz's mind.

Siz woke up again gasping. Her little eyes wide open, her arms reaching out toward Jenny. She was screaming again, "Light! Light! Light! Please light!" Instead her little hand found itself a high-nutrient ration, and feeling a corporeal item in her hand, instead of that ethereal eldritch dark, brought her back into reality. Siz blinked, a few residual tears rolled down her feverish cheeks and onto the white sheets.

Jenny was once again on call to ease Siz back into the realm of the living, embracing her just as Siz saw the small lighting rig Melethia had set up around her cot."It's okay...You safe. You never left this bed." She explained, thinking that this was a case of her being afraid of the dark.She kept a mental note of her talking about Blackharte and swore to ask about it, but her priority now was just calming her down and sorting out her malnutrition."It's alright. All that's going to happen is we are going to have something to eat to get your strength up, out here in the light, and then I'll do what I can to make this all better for you."Slindis was right: Jenny was the Team Mom.

Sizz stared at Jenny and breathed softly. She tried to calm herself own, compelled to obey the first thing that spoke to her. How weak the human mind is. Cz thought bitterly. She took the ration in her hands and bit down onto it. And suddenly she balked. The flavor was unimaginably intense. And not in a good way. It had a burning bitter saltiness to it with only hints of sweetness. It overwhelmed Siz's virgin tongue and almost immediately the young Peacemaker model spit it out and hurled the ration bar across the room.

"Tase baad! Not good!" she said simply, seemingly forgotten of the terror that had been stalking her just moments ago.

"...Hmmmm..." Jenny thought as she didn't bother trying to force her to eat that ration, seeing how clear Siz disliked it.Still, the fact that it made her forget about her utter terror was a small blessing.She then went for Plan B., breaking off a piece of her own Sweet Poffin and handing it to her."Perhaps this might be better?..." She asked as she watched Cz's reaction to it.Deciding to push on the Nightmare issue, she then asked as innocently and non-threateningly as possible "...So are you having bad dreams?...Is there anything you would like to like to tell me?...About the Dark?..."

As Annie walked away the Doctor weakly lifted his arm. "No ... I'm perfectly fine, it's not like I just killed myself in a totally different way then you would expect ... plus taking all those weapons head on ... yup ... just sitting here in a file of my blood." The Doctor said as he was not able to fall asleep due to all the pain within him. "(So ... can I have his arm as a souvenir of this experience?)" The familiar voice he killed popped inside his head again. "No ... we are not going to take his arm ... YET!" The Wanderer screamed into the surrounding area even if he was speaking to his mental dark half.

"I ... need to work on this." He kept muttering to himself as he stuck the 49th Stimpak inside his body. "(Hey, I think the holes are starting to close up!)" The dark voice said with glee, "Please ... give me some rest, this isn't Deadpool." He muttered as he looked toward Yu who was ignoring everything the Doctor was saying, he was mostly reflecting upon the battles and experience they had gone through in this place.

A while later after following Deadshot

After coming back to the main opening, the Wanderer could see the organizer of the rescue. After she had told what would go on down and order the three that had 'caused' this mess in the first place, the first thing the Wanderer did was take a military like stance and give a full salute. "Yes, ma'am." He said as he turned around to start walking back to the ship while showing obvious signs of pain, even Mitsuru could see the many holes in his armor and head ... especially with that missing/growing eye in his right socket.

Yu gave a small wave to everyone, giving a small nod to Mitsuru he was taken back to the Shadow Operative Center where he would sleep until he was needed, tonight was a very tiring night.

Home, sweet home.

Getting back to the hanger of the Rising Dawn, the Wanderer smiled as he saw his home with his one single eye."Yes, home ... sweet ass home. I can't wait until I can get back to my crap shack-" The Wanderer was talking but suddenly all of his vision was gone, he was blind. "Wait ... why is this happening! Did you do anything!?" The Wanderer whispered to the Shadow lurking in his mind. "(Nuh uh bro ... I'm guessing it was from those bullets I shot into you. Yeah sorry about that.)" he Shadow quickly responded, this made the Doctor pond.

"Nah, it ain't no problem ... but ... ah ... eureka!" The Doctor yelled as he stumbled through the hanger, tripping over multiple things. One even included Puce's fucking air thingy, it probably broke too. "Damn lead poisoning ... " He muttered as he got up and began to walk, having a quick idea he pulled out a dress cane and began to use it as a walking stick. In the corner of the hanger in the workshop was Storm and Alpha working on rebuilding the Spartan armor that was smashed due to Annie, yet they were worried and began to stare at the Wanderer who was wobbling across the hanger with a dress cane. Before he went through the door the Wanderer looked back. "Stop looking at me, I'm blind damn it!" He said before walking.

The one thing that the Wanderer did not know, is that he was walking to the Captain's cabin. Oh wasn't this going to be fun.

Outside the Captain's Quarters: Annie, Wanderer.

Walking along like the blind man he is, the Wanderer decided to rip some of his clothing off to make a blindfold ... to look cooler of course, but this did not work since his eyes bled through and made it pure crimson instead. It had seem that the meds he took were not working as fast as anticipated. "All due to physical and mental stress ... great." He muttered to himself but all of a sudden he took in a large sniff of the air. "Hmm, the noticeable smell of fear ... anger ... and ... a protein shake mixed with alcohol ... the fuck?" He quietly said to himself as he passed by Annie, not noticing her at all.

"Well ... the best cure for fear is to beat the crap out of ... something. I dunno ..." The Wanderer regretted not running back to his place before this happened. Then he came to the door to the Captain's cabin. Feeling the door up he could tell of it's quality. The Wanderer knocked it three times with his cane, little did he know that Rugal was RIGHT behind it. In fact it was the first time the two would meet officially.

"Yeah, try one. I think you'll like it, Siz, and it'll help get your mind off this thing messin' with you. Want me to break off some of it?" Again, David could see some hint of Melethia being a normal kid, and that was hard to see when she wasn't making something just to kill.

Rising Dawn Hallway: Akane, Devon, Cadolbolg, Caim, Ton Ton

"I understand you, Akane, but that's happened already... I've already had enough of those infernal affairs for a few lifetimes..." The Bard was being very honest with her statement, and if anything else there was a deep fatigue in her voice. Maybe it was from the fights earlier?

Rising Dawn: Training Room: Slindis, Dimitri

"One last thing: Delete the recording of this message so it's not possible to gain the password through a recording. After all, if I can use this, there's no reason why someone else would be recording this as well." Cautious as always, Slindis had made sure to cover her tracks here. She thought of passing it on to Teri, but she didn't want to do this until the time was right.

Rising Dawn: Ella's Room: Ella, Garm, Teri

"Who says he'll have to let us contact him? We can use the fact that he doesn't have the rings on to our advantage. We could pass word on, let the others know so that we can move unnoticed when the time comes." It may sound a bit optimistic, but Sadei was definitely thinking of ideas to help resolve this situation. It wouldn't necessarily mean that they would work, but it was better than doing nothing.

Ella continued to be very straightforward with Teri as she stroked Garm's fur. "Teri, you didn't see those combats. In both of them, she nearly died, and the way she's acting makes it way too clear that she intends to keep acting like that. How many more times will she be lucky? I don't want to have to find that out.I'm glad I can trust you with this, though; we both know that Devon really won't like what'll be happening with this, but it needs to be done."

Caim gave a frown of distaste when Jake mentioned "Authors and Gods", but gave it some more thought when it came to the headcount of the party, "Let's see here...We've got myself, Angelus Cadolbolg and Ton Ton, Devon and her companion, Ella; I'm pretty sure you met her when we were fighting the zombies off in Las Venturas. Let's see here... oh right, Jenny's still with us, thankfully. She's been rather helpful in keeping up morale."

It took a bit of time, but Caim, with the help of the Cuties, Devon, and AI Vermilion were able to get Jake and Akane up to speed regarding the current crew members and the situation with Shadows, Philemon and Nyarlatothep;

"...And there we are. If you're worried about facing your Shadow like some of the others have, just get an Evoker from Mitsuru or Fuuka. Some of them are shapped a little differently,"

he pointed to the knife strapped to his leg, and the collars Ton Ton and Cadolbolg had round their necks, "But they allow for safe Persona summoning."

At the mention of his Persona, Caim noticed Devon's current state, and in a concerned tone, asked, "You know, the more I think about it, you pretty beat up for the Shadows we were fighting in those simulators... What happened?"

"Oh, it was mainly things that come with the fights. You know, taking a few hits, giving them out, getting people out of the way of hits... Nothing too serious. I can just sleep it off, Caim..." Of course, the validity of Devon's statement was severely lowered when Caim could hear the characteristic shortness of breath that had to come from a heavily damaged full plate.

Cadolbolg shook his head immediately at Devon's claim, "Lying is not right, Devon! Father, she's making it sound less than it really is. I saw; when the blonde Annie woman's Shadow knocked her into a wall! And the the other Shadow set her on fire! Devon's really gotten beaten up; and she's really worn out from the fights. Please, make her go to a doctor."

"Really..? Oh dear... That explains why your breathing's so shallow!"

Of course, the fact that Devon's armor was horribly damaged gave Caim further evidence to contrast Devon's statements. What the hell was his student thinking, saying she could "shrug it off"? His frown deepening further, Caim pointed in the direction of the Med Bay, and simply stated, "Go. NOW. And find Melethia to fix your plate up while you're at it. I'm sure you can borrow some clothes from Ella or someone else on board."

And with the look Caim had on his face, he was pretty serious about Devon getting herself taken care of.

Rising Dawn: Ella's Room: Ella, Garm, Teri

Tama lifted her head up in the dark headspace, the familiar light seeming to appear in the eye slits of her helmet, "You're right! I can talk to Mum and not worry about the douchemongler hearing me.... YO, KIDDO. Lemme use the rings again.""You're talking to Mum, right? Better cut back on the swears, or she might not want to grant you an audience.."

After Ella spoke about the combat in question, Garm added in (after being given a small piece of meat) "She is right. I saw how she acted in battle. Her tactics do not fit her level of defense. The blaze that is her efforts will be snuffed out quickly if this set of berserker like tactics continue."

Teri rested her chin on her palms in thought, and gave a grim nod after listening to the both of her friends, "I understand."

Giving a small smirk, the Cleric took a leaf out of Toyotama's book and snarked, "So, we got the plan down. I say we make a name for it. How about, Operation: Intervention?"

Rising Dawn: Training Room: Slindis, Dimitri

Dimitri's eyes took that glazed consistency again, and he continued with, "It is done. Now, do you have any further requests?"

As Slindis was about to answer, she heard a voice she did not think would be able to enter her mind in some time, "Lo there, Mum. You probably remember me from a while back. You know, I was a dragon, you were still using swords...

Anyway, point being, I need to talk to you. It's bout Dad. I think you and I have noticed that he's been acting kinda funky, and I got some funky news figured out bout him...."

Rugal let out a loud grunt of annoyance when Wanderer began knocking on his door."Gah! Curse this moronic ship!" He shouted as he got up from the sink and opened the door."What?!...Wanderer?...Is that you?..." he asked as he saw the Wanderer, albeit he looked like he picked a fight with a shredder.

*Shakes Magic 8 Ball of Writers Block*

Rising Dawn: Med Bay: Jenny, Melethia, Cz, Constance

Jenny thought about Cz's problems, recalling the dozens of people at her clinic who suffered from nightmares and other such things as well.Hmmm...If I had my powers, I could easily- She thought before it hit her: The Shadow Realm Emulator!"Melethia, do you have an Evoker I could borrow?..." She then asked, starting to realize what she was doing.If I'm going back in there, I'll need some help...

As the small group conversed amongst themselves, one of the crew quarters opened with an audible swish, revealing an annoyed looking Teddy Bear with a long stick in his furry paws. One might have mistaken the look of annoyance over the fact that the conversation in the hallway had been the cause of waken the hungover Teddy Bear but the true source of the annoyance was the fact that with Miss Constance in the Medical Bay of the Airship, Teddy was forced to utilize what working braincells remained in his alcohol soaked brain and figure out a way to open the door given his rather short stature.

Giving the group a look of admonishment with his bleary eyes, he noted that there was yet another crew-member that he had not yet met.

"Z'it m-*hic* me or dosh - does - *hic* does this crew seem to get bigger v'rytime ah - a - I wake up?" Teddy asked aloud to no one in particular before waddling over to the group to see what all the commotion was in regards to and noted that the heavy armor that the Ship's Bard wore appeared to be quite damaged in several places.

"H-Heh-Heeeeyyyy. Y'r am'r broke!" Teddy stated as he plunged a paw deep into his stomach and produced a rather large bottle of pain pills.

"Ugh. If ah - I'm gonna meet new people, I sh-sh-should probably get rid of this headache first."

The Airship and its passengers were not too far from the ship's destination of Coveting Cove, the southern most and by far the largest harbor in all of Mir. Inside the quarters that Captain Kall had generously assigned the two, both Constance and Som were seated on their separate bunks, staring deeply into each other's eyes. This was not the sort of deep stare that lovers shared but the stare of two opponents that sat on opposite sides of a chess board gave one another.

"Your concentration is pitiful. It is only a matter of time before you give up once again." Som stated evenly as he placed a finger on the amulet he wore around his neck, the liquid inside bubbling furiously as it counteracted the magic that the Raven Haired Vampire was casting upon the HUnter.

There was an audible puff of air as Constance released the breathe that she had been holding for quite some time, her whole body seemed to deflate with the expelled quantity of air.

"You didn't have to break my concentration." The Sorrowfeld Vampire complained as she picked up a blood box and sipped from the bendible plastic straw."[/color]

"Do you think that your enemies will be so honorable as to wait until your spell has been cast?" Hunter Waterford mocked as he stood up and left the small cabin. As the two had no money, it had fallen upon the Hunter to work for the passage fare, the Captain was unwilling to allow a girl, human or not, to work the ship.

As Constance sat in the darkness, alone with Teddy, a curious thought took shape in head.

"(This - This isn't how I dreamed it before.)" The thought came and left before it could be questioned.

Constance opened her eyes and found that she had dozed off while she was reading the personel files of the various people that made up the crew of the Rising Dawn. She also found that while she had slept, Cz had apparently woken and was having a rough time now that she had regained consciousness.

The remains of a ration bar shattered against a wall next to where the slumbering vampire was seated, followed by a phrase that was crudely strung together by a tongue unused to speech.

It struck Constance, while the youngest member of the Sorrowfeld clan but not inexperienced around children, as strange that Cz would have had a mental regression. While Cz had not had the best vocabulary when they had first met, this relapse into a more basic mental state was disconcerting at best.

"What's wrong with her, Jenny?" was what Constance was about to ask as Jenny the Gardevoir asked Melethia for an Evoker.

"(The plant lizard thing's going to go into the child's head. Not a good idea.)" Bast responded to the unasked question. Even as Constance slept, the Feline Persona had been observing everything that was going on within the confines of the room.

"Jenny? Is there anything I can do to help?" Constance asked suddenly, breaking her silence.

Airship: Rising Dawn | Training Room #7 Angelus, Som

*THUD*

Before Som could respond to the agitated comment that the Faux-Human Dragoness had spat at him, Som found himself flying through the air as the training dummy stuck the hunter from behind, the Som being unused to the fact that these training machinations struck back as to better simulate combat situations.

It was at this point that the Hunter found himself in a rather awkard position, kneeling and bowed forward as if asking the Dragoness to pardon his mocking at her expense. From his position on the ground, Som could see that the training dummy was posed to strike when the HUnter picked himself up from the floor, a process that Som found rather discomforting since the training simulator had caused the Hunter to cut himself with his own blade when he had been struck.

"Um - Miss Dragoness. If you would kindly restrain the training machination, I seem to have cut myself when it blindsided me." The Hunter stated, his tone oozing with a fair amount of embarassment at having to request assistance from a non-human and to cap it off, from a Dragon that would obviously hold this situation over his head for quite a while.

"Nightmares I think. Still trying to get a straight answer from her. Just...We may need to go to a Shadow Zone. My powers won't work otherwise and I'll need them to get to the root of the problem." Jenny answered Constance.

Before the door was opened, the Wanderer was touching the door a bit more. "(I have a bad feeling about this ... this feels like a good quality door.)" His Shadow whispered inside his mind, their question was answered as they heard Rugal and asked if it was them. "Ah ... yes ... let me just see if I can ... " The Wanderer was saying quietly as he hand started to wander by itself and then it found it's target.

*Poke*'

The Wanderer poke Rugal's stomach. "(One hundred percent muscle bro ... )" His Shadow confirmed the fact, this made the Wanderer jump slightly backwards. "Ru-rugal ... wait ... don't tell me, this is the Captain's room!?" The Wanderer's guess was one hundred percent correct as he took in the smell of luxury which really wasn't for him in a sense.

"Okay, I can explain ... I just came from coming back from my own Shadow fight in that weird zone." He took a pause before memorizing the few things he saw afterwards. "I won ... but my body ... and mind, took a lot of damage as you can see. " the Wanderer opened his arms and from what Rugal could see that his armour and clothing had many holes in them, even beyond that he could see his flesh inside the armor covered in blood.

The most notable features were the crimson blindfold over his eyes and a pretty large hole in his head, luckily enough Rugal could only see a it of skull and facial muscle over the wound. "I'm going to guess it is bad ... but thanks to lead bullets I have lost my eyesight for a while. BUT my regenerative factor should come in sometime soon." The Wanderer said but he started to point his head and multiple directions and sniff.

"So if you could tell me some directions to the elevator that would be great ... and is it me or can I smell the scent of anger and fear." The Wanderer shrugged but just recollected himself and realized what he just said. "I mean ... that probably isn't from you, but rather myself ... I think." His face straightened up as he said that to the rather large man.

"Something went on here ... " His Shadow said the obvious which made the Wanderer's face turn to the side. "No shit ... but do we really want to say that to him." The Wanderer said quietly but covered it up with a cough. "So yes ... directions would be great, if I can get to my room I can sleep this off, other then that has anything happened around here?" The Wanderer said and decided that it would be great to get an update in ship activities from the 'Captain', even if the Wanderer did not treat this guy like a Captain ... but he knew that he was a better fist-fighter then him.

"...Turn left, walk 10 steps, Then turn left again, 3 steps. Good day." Rugal instantly answered before shutting the door in his face, rolling his eyes at just how moronic this entire ship seemed to be.While I still think you are a fool for staying here, I have a need found respect for your utter patience... He thought as he went back to getting the feeling back in his hand, figuring that one of the AIs or something would guide the Wanderer if he was unable to understand his simple directions.

"B-but... fine... I'll go. I don't really know who would have stuff that does fit me, though..." Devon knew that she wouldn't be getting another word in edgewise with Caim, and the fact that Ton-Ton had almost been assigned to her would make it hard to just say that she went to the Doctor's area.

When she got there, Melethia pulled Devon aside (Literally, the kid was darn strong) and tsked with a great deal of disappointment. "Whatever did this to ya really packed a punch, ya know? It'll take me a few weeks to get this fixed, and that's if I even CAN fix it. Just put on one of the patient gowns here and get something tomorrow, but this is going to take a long time even if I CAN salvage this. How did you not die?"

After that, Devon left the room with Ton-Ton in tow while wearing a patient's gown.

Rising Dawn: Ella's Room: Ella, Garm, Teri

"Oh, we can definitely work with it. Remember: If you wouldn't be caught dead with it, it's a pretty strong option. Now then, I'm guessing Devon's headed to the Medbay after that battle if she runs into Caim. Want to head her off?" Ella certainly had a plan, and the two ran into Devon after handing her armor to Melethia. After telling Ton-Ton the gist of the plan through the rings, Ella gave that pleasant smile again as she talked to Devon.

"Devon, I'm glad we ran into you! Mitsuru did say that the three of us are on the investigation team tomorrow, so how about me and Teri help you get something to wear? You can't wear that the whole time unless you want to let everyone know what underwear that Teri poofed in for you. And really, me and Teri can actually find you clothes that fit.

Before you just ask Teri for some, remember that it tires her out. It's rude to have her poof in everything you wear." The way Ella spoke, she knew that Devon wouldn't see the fact that Ella'd been the one to ask Mitsuru for the non-Shadow Zone assignment.

Rising Dawn: Training Room: Slindis, Dimitri

Tama communicating with Slindis was certainly unexpected, but the answer did make a lot about the past day or so tie together. "You know, that does tie a lot together... I have some ways of breaking that, but all of those involve getting Rugal to a Shadow Zone so I can use some spells. After that last fight, though, I don't see him going anywhere near there. If anything, we'll need to catch him off-guard."

Siz held her hand out, toward the poffin expectantly. Jenny place a small piece of the bread into Siz's soft delicate hand, and popped the morsel into her mouth and chewed. It was overwhelmingly sweet, but Cz made sure Siz swallowed it all. Apparently eating was now a necessity. "Cz think taste okay."How humiliating. Cz grumbled within the confines of her compressed form. To be conscious and acting in such a manner. This is unacceptable for someone of my rank to be this absurdly childish. Siz grabbed the rest of the poffin and started to eat it, taking small bites and chewing slowly before swallowing.

Nightmares no, visions more like. Warnings... threats. Something of that sort. Cz told Jenny. Or at least she tried to. What came out of Siz's mouth was a little different. "Dark is scary. Scary man in dark place. Scary in everyplace. No place I can hide. Always dark," Siz paused as she struggled to put her thoughts into words, "Big dark man being mean to I."

Siz paused and stared at Jenny for a long time silent. And then her eyes lit up like a christmas tree, "Doll! Where is Siz's doll!?"My evoker! Where is my evoker!? Cz screamed within the mental prison. Whoever had decided to lock her up, and Cz had a very educated guess who it was, had also seemed to have slipped the small living doll from her body. Something meant to cripple her in this world, and Cz did not appreciate it one bit.

When the door was simply swung shut after he gave directions, the Shadow side did not really agree with this interaction. "(Rude)" It spoke in the mind of the Wanderer, "Yeah, but it's Rugal ... what would you expect." The Wanderer said as he gripped his cane again and began to walk down the hallway. "(Yeah but ... you know we are kinda handicapped here, and we value manners above many things!)" The Shadow snapped back, surprisingly the Wanderer agreed with his other half, manners were something that made his day better.

Feeling weight in his hand the Wanderer Shawn looked down and saw a familiar weapon he hasn't used for a while. "A cyro mine ... are you crazy!?" He whispered to himself as he passed Annie, "(Yeah ... aren't we both?)" The Shadow said with the truest fact. "Well, you are right. Okay, I know what to do, you can take over if you want." The Wanderer said to his Shadow, who would smile evilly if he was in a physical form.

*BANG*

"Thank you partner~!" The Wanderer said to himself as the insanity trigger was pulled, for the Wanderer now, it was time to have some fun with this. "Okay, I have ... well ... that should be enough." The insane!Wanderer said to himself as he threw the first mine on the wall. It was a matter of time, but in a few minutes the hallway to the Captain's room was covered with these little babies.

From bottom to top, to side to side, the hallway was covered with these mines. Luckily for Rugal they were "Completely safe for the human body, well ... if he did step on one of these he would turn into a Popsicle for a hour and turn this place into a fridge freezer. AHAHAHAHA" He laughed, sure it was hard for him to see at the moment, but he was confident in his work and could feel the mines around the hallway.

Then suddenly ... "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"A voice of the unknown proportions called out and the Insane!Wanderer pulled off his crimson blindfold to see his work of art. "It's ... it's ... beautiful!" He said in such a fashion that it almost bought a tear to his eyes, quickly taking control of his emotions the insane!Wanderer started to walk away, happy with his work, then a weird figure came into view, it was Annie.

"Ugh, you come into play here brother. Switchu!" He called out before the normal Wanderer came back into mind. "Well ... DAMN." The Wanderer looked around and saw the work of his other half, he actually admired it for a while before spotting Annie again. Walking over to the blonde girl, he lowered himself. " ... hey, what happened?" He said in a calm and soft voice.

Rising Dawn Hallway: Akane, Devon, Cadolbolg, Caim, Jake, Ton TonJake waved to Blackhearte, another long veteran of the AA. "G'day mate, nice to know you're still part of the ship."

Turning to Caim, Jake nodded and listened in silence to the explanations. "Huh, well the less I have to do with these persona's the better I think. Mine will be one sick twisted fuck, or about 30 sick twisted fucks. I dunno we'll have to wait and see I guess. Uhh, where are we going now, seeing as Devon is at the Medbay?"

Rugal had finally gotten all the feeling back into his hand as Wanderer laid Cyro-Mines down all over the hallway leading to his room."Bloody hell, What the hell is his doing out there? I though he was blind?..." He sighed as Wanderer seemed to be talking to himself as he trapped the hallway.Still, it was getting late and it was unlikely that anyone would be calling so he retired to his bed and got some shut eye.Just a few more days and I'll be out of this madhouse and back to rubbing shoulders with Warlords and Republicans... He thought happily as he went to sleep for the night.

Rising Dawn: Med Bay: Jenny, Devon, Melethia, Cz, Constance

"So it's not the dark you are scared of, but a being in it? Don't worry, I won't let that man bother you for much longer. Now then, where is that doll of yours?..." Jenny said as she got up and started looking for it."Jenny...What exactly are you going to do with your powers?..." Constance asked as she helped to look for Cz's wayward doll."Just a simple Mind-Meld while she's sleeping. I do them all the time back at my Clinic. Just while Psychological issues might exist, sometimes it's hard to describe to yourself, let alone another. By entering her mind, I can easily find out who or what is scaring her. I sometimes even help combat them." She explained to the Vampire as she found it on one of the counters in the med-bay."Here we are! Much better!" She warmly smiled as she handed Cz the doll while Devon was getting an ear bashing from Melethia for trashing her armor so much."I must ask the same, Devon. What did you do that damaged it so much? I mean, It looks like it was hit by a car..."

Rising Dawn: David's Room: David West

After a botched bender, David returned to his room and company of his own inner monologue.Before he could flop down on his bed, he found the aftermath of his session waiting for him.Tripping over the small pile of bottles he had thrown on the floor, He sighed as he began cleaning them up and throwing them into some Black Bags, intending to get some shut eye afterwards.

Rising Dawn: Deadshot's Room: Deadshot

Down the hall from where Wanderer and Annie were, Deadshot was sleeping soundly away and snoring to his hearts content, up until now, he had been sleeping in parks, the back of cars or in prison cells so he was keen to make the most of it.

Having not expected Jenny in the room as well, Devon found herself explaining for what seemed the thousandth tine what had happened in the Shadow Realm. "I know I probably came in at a bad time, but it all happened when we went to get Annie, the Wanderer, and Deadshot out of a Shadow zone. Fights happened, close calls happened, but we all got out alright so it's not that big of a deal... Now could I find a gown here without telling a memoir? This really is worse than it looks, after all... I mean, I'm still living."

Now of course it was rather hard to believe considering the state that Devon was in; between the scorches on her armor and the massive denting all over the armor, there was no way she wasn't in a bad condition even if she'd been healed. Was Devon overcompensating? With the curse, she might be trying to cling to any semblance of masculinity she could find. Apparently, though, Devon had gone about it in the wrong way.

"Oh my...Well, I guess if you are still alive, it couldn't have been too bad..." Jenny said as it seemed clear Devon didn't want to talk about her several near deaths."Just take it easy and get some rest, No doubt you earned it." She added before letting Devon get on her way, seeing how she didn't seem to want to talk about it again....*Sigh* so many psychological fires to fight, so little time... The Therapist then sighed as Devon's situation came to the front of her mind again, keeping just one crew member here from going insane was a full time job, nevermind the rest of them.

BlackHarte returned Jake's greeting politely, "Author Jake, it is very good to see you again. I think." BlackHarte paused, his green eye flickered on and off a few times. "I think it has been a long while since I have last spoken to you. But I cannot seem to recall. My memory has begun to slip. Strange."

He stretched his body outward in all directions and snapped himself together, the equivilant of a slap tot he cheek to wake himself up. "I am serving master... Kyre? No. She has passed. Who am i serving? Red Mage? No he came before. The blonde merchant? I forget his name. oh... so many masters. I cannot keep them straight anymore. Perhaps I need a software update." BlackHarte shook his blobby head from side to side. "This will not do, this will not do. Writer Jake, if it would not be an issue, could you please bring me to the medical bay with you? I.. seem to have misplaced something there of great importance I feel. My memory is fading... how perturbing."

PersonaverseLocation: Med Bay | Rising Dawn

Jenny | Devon | Melethia | Cz | Constance

Cz squeezed the doll firmly in her little hands, "I is thinking bad things." Siz paused and looked at Jenny tending to Devon. For a moment she was confused. I could have sworn that was a man not too long ago. Siz cracked a little smile. The bemusement had again overwritten her entire mental capacity t feel fear. The small compressed energy saving form was very troublesome Cz found. Her processes were only large enough to handle on instance of thought at a time without sacrificing vital processes keeping Cz alive within the back of her mental conscience. Gathering up all her will, Cz forced Siz to speak coherently for a few moments, directing the broken fragments at Jenny as cloudly and clearly as possible.

"Not nightmares. Threats. There is evil here and it is" Siz balked as she bit her lip. Instantly she shut her mouth and slumped back into the cot, holding in the pain. has been with this ship for as long as it has existed. Cz swore, the last part of her message unsent.

How long ago did that Stone of Darkness board this ship, Cz wondered, and for how long has it resided aboard, doing simply nothing but observing and making subtle manipulations. And how much of the events leading up to now had been the result of the foul creature. Cz wanted to know badly, she wanted to know and then destroy that thing forever. Or at least banish it from the realm of humans. But that would have to wait until they were outside of this particular instance of reality, when she could unleash her full divine form and confront the evil.

"Missing. Missing! Missing! He's missing! %*!@$%#!#C*!& is MISSING!" the Personality unit had lit up like a christmas tree. His body squirmed in the sea of empty existence where he occupied all. His voice was distorted and maniace, unable to find a proper balance between rationality and emotion. So instead his voice flew from one range of audio possibility to another with as little certainty as possible. He laughed, undulating and creating tumults int he air that sounded like a warbling laughter. "Alone! So alone. ALONE! GEHEHE! Alone for so LONG! I know KNoW kNOW NOW KNOW KOH KOW BOW HOW! HAHA!"

"$*!@!LA@!QEG%#@!!! HAHAHA! LEFT M# AL0N3! Alone... a1oл3! So Д1фйЗ! I... I... I... I am so alone. So sad. Where has he gone." BlackHarte squrimed together tightly and looked into himself. Seeing only darkness he recoiled. "GAHAHAHA! CURSED! LEFT ME CURSED TO WONDER!? WONDER WANDER YES

Watching as the Bard left for the Medical Ward, it struck the hungover Teddy Bear that there was something very much different about the appearance of Devon. Because gender was something that his kind never had to deal with, the Teddy Bear Back Pack sometimes found it difficult to distinguish male humans from female humans.

"Hu-hu-heeeey! Washn't that guy a guy?" The Plush Bear asked, watching the retreating form of the Bard turn a corner and disappear altogether.

Unlike Teddy, Constance had noticed the change in Devon as soon as he she entered the Medical Ward and though it may have been relevant in a team building sense to toss a few playful words in the Bard's direction, it did not seem to be the correct timing as there were concerns regarding the man-turned-woman's wounds as well as Cz's state as well.

Returning her attention to towards the young peacekeeper, the Raven Haired Vampiress was able to catch the last of the young one's words.

"It's what?" Constance wondered to herself as she tried to mentally review what she remembered of the Airship's historical files. Seeing that no answer was forthcoming from Little Cz, Constance searched the Medical Bay and found a pad of blank paper and some pencils.

"Cz? Do you think you could draw the thing, the bad thing that you saw?"

The normal Wanderer smiled, "Don't worry ... if anyone trips up and falls to the darker side, I will always be one small step behind them." The Wanderer said with a determined face and tone. The Wanderer then stepped up and stretched, the only wounds that were on his body was the facial opening which showed a small bit of his skull, thanks to the regenerative perks and medicine, it was already being covered by flesh.

"If there was any position on this ship I had ... it would be the sheriff." He smiled again yet it turned to a small distant frown. "But I have a bad feeling ... bad people will always be bad somewhere within them, it will be up to them to decide if they embrace that original feeling or accept their new selves ... but we shouldn't worry, we have many people who would come to this crew's rescue and take up a new leadership. Like David and my pal the Spartan, both good to lead this thing." He muttered once more as he remembered the part about "Discarding", this made the Wanderer smile in a crazy way.

"If it came to that ...I would simply have to 'discard' him as well." the tone and face of the Wanderer twisted fast to a dark and crazy version but reverted just as quick. Coughing to clear his throat, he gave Annie a stern look. "But in all honesty, if he did do that ... many people would not accept it, including me." He said in a serious tone for once but soon eyed the hand of Annie's. "Hopefully your regenerative factor will heal that ... but if you need help, I'll be in my place on the roof. I just, really need to rest right now ... fighting yourself physically and mentally can be really exhausting ... see you later ... Annie ... " The Wanderer said as his eyes started to droop slowly.

Soon enough the Wanderer wandered further down the corridor, where he got into a elevator to the roof. Soon enough he fell through his shack's door, ignored his robot companion SID and fell onto the bed ... his mind quickly drifted off. The two forms of the Wanderer gave a sigh of relief as a dream began to come to them.

Jenny had made up her mind when she heard the word "Threats"."...I don't mean to alarm anyone, but we might be dealing with a Shadow...Dimitri, set up a training room with a link to the Shadow Realm and see if you can relocate my evoker there. Me and Cz will be down shortly." She stated to the AI and everyone in the room before she picked Cz up in her arms."Now...Cz, I am going to find the being that is making the bad things in your head. It will be scary, but don't be frightened. I will be with you at all times. Constance, Melethia, if you would like to help me, come to the Training room." She explained before going to leave the room with Cz in hand.

Deadshot was snoring away, least until Wanderer showed up and began making a racket as he planted a ton of those Cyro Mines all over the place.uhhhh..what is he doing now?..."...Wait, was that a rhetorical question or were you actually asking me? Just, because I'm, well, you, I have no idea either..."...I liked you better when you were an Asshole. You were actually less annoying."...Thanks?..."You're welcome...Pulling himself out of bed in a sleepy stupor, He yawned as he opened the door out of his room, not bothering to put his top back on, planning to merely tell Wanderer to shut up and then go back to sleep.

Not long after the Mad Doctor left Annie to return to his shack, she heard him say:"...Why are there dozens of landmines in the middle of the hall?..." He rightfully asked, glad that he wasn't staying in that room.What was more interesting however was the state his body was in, adorned in scars that made the ones on his face look like papercuts. (This but not as chiseled and dreamy~)

Apologies, but the show must go on.

After an intensive evening of fighting Shadows, meeting friendly faces and dealing with varying personal hangups, (as well as a VERY intense lecture from Mitsuru to Deadshot, Storm and Annie about the consequences of their actions) the party found themselves in the Shadow Operatives building the following morning. They were in a different conference room; with a map in the middle of the table; and with Mitsuru, Fuuka and Yu (who had stayed in the Shadow Operatives building the evening prior) standing and awaiting the party. After the group gathered in their varying manners, Mitsuru was the first to speak,

"Good morning. I do hope all of you have had adequate amounts of sleep. Now, to get down to business."

She swept her hand over the table containing the map, and pointed, "Now that you have become acquainted with your Personas and have a firm grip on what to look out for, it's been decided that your forces will be split between two teams. The first, to finish cleaning up the Shadow Zone that appeared; and the second to go to Tatsumi Port Island to investigate for any further infected, clues, what have you. Seeing that a small team,"

she waved a hand to Devon, Ella and the others involved in the incident the night before, "Was able to manage; albeit with some injuries, I think the division of your forces shouldn't be too great of an issue. However, I will make it clear that you will be walking around in a modern city with citizens who are not familiar with the sort of talents that your group has. Please exert some from of subtly in what you do."

She gave Deadshot, Annie and the Wanderer a particular look when expressing this, and then allowed Fuuka to take the floor, "I know some of you had Mitsuru acting as a support last night, but I can more than adequately do the same, and with less equipment involved. For that reason, I will be aiding those going to the Shadow Zone today. I hope my powers can be more than sufficient in helping you find your way in the Zone. Also, I'm going to give you a fair warning. Mitsuru told me about the 'robot' that you encountered in there. That would be an Anti-Shadow Weapon, one that must have had a malfunction when the car hit the warehouse containing her in while she was deactivated. She is delusional, and will attack you on sight. So there will be her, in addition to the Shadows you will be facing in the zone.

Map of the 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

The morning Rugal woke up was an eventful one, thanks in part to the "Kind Efforts" of Wanderer for rigging every possible path out of his room with Cryo Mines.Needless to say, the Self Appointed Captain of the Rising Dawn was shivering and sneezing for some time after he was able to get past them all."R-right...I'll be leading the Investigation so A-anyone who intend to do the same, M-meet me at Tatsumi Port..." He sniffed, making sure to remember to "Thank" Wanderer for this the second he was able to do so."Also, I just want to P-pretext that due to some..."Control" issues with my own Persona, I am basically rendered ineffective in them. As of such, I will NOT be able to enter a Shadow Zone. Just so the other members of the Investigation understand..." He explained, figuring his ruse thus far was still pretty effective."...a-a-AH-COO!....*Sniff* damn that motherless bastard..." He cursed as he pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his nose.

Shadow Operatives Building: David West

After an un-eventful night, David didn't get up to much (Nor was he in the mood to do so), but there was a part of him that was wondering what the hell this "Shadow Zone" was."Eh...Sign me up for the Shadow Zone thingy." He said with a lack of interest, absently fiddling with his weapon."You sure?...I figured you would be better suited to Urban Combat.""Nah, knowing my luck, I'd just get up getting my ass kicked by Ninjas or...something..." He sighed as he spun his M500 halfheartedly.

Shadow Operatives Building: Jenny

While she was a little disappointed that she couldn't use the Shadow Zone Emulator last night, Jenny perked up to the idea of doing into the Shadow Zone, Provided Cz was up for it."I'm okay on either team, seeing how I'm usually on the back row a lot of time..." She admitted, something that was starting to bug her more then usual.

Shadow Operatives Building: Deadshot

After sitting though what seemed like 40 years of a lecture with his 3 least favorite people in this room (Mitsuru, Annie and Wanderer), Deadshot was extremely annoyed with the proceedings, animating only to pick which team he'd be on."I'm with the Investigation. Seeing as I have no intention of going back into that crazy ass place..." He said as he threw his feet up on the table, just to piss Mitsuru off."We have Agents who will meet us on site? Or do we just start poking though trash cans?"